A three-dimensional model for the dispersion of radioactive substances in marine ecosystems: application to the Baltic Sea after the Chernobyl disaster

A 3-D dispersion model has been developed to simulate the dispersion of nuclear contaminants in marine ecosystems. This model is characterized by presenting high spatial resolution, by taking into account the possible sedimentation of a fraction of the contaminants, and by formulating the diffusion processes using an original approach. The model has been applied and validated taking the Baltic Sea as its scenario, and using the 137Cs originating from the Chernobyl accident as the substance which experienced the dispersion. The simulation of a year's dispersion of the 137Cs in the Baltic sea (just after the Chernobyl accident) has been performed.